Tottenham Hotspur will face considerable competition from Borussia Dortmund in the race to sign Maximilian Philipp this summer, according to a Sun report.
The newspaper claims the German giants “are ready to swoop” for the 23-year-old striker, in order to provide cover for the injured Marco Reus.
It is said the Freiburg star has been on Tottenham’s radar “for some time” and they value him at £10million, but Dortmund have entered the race to sign him, as have RB Leipzig.
Philipp had a decent season for the German minnows this term, scoring nine goals in 25 Bundesliga appearances.
He joined Freiburg in the summer of 2014 when he made the jump from their second team, and he has played more than 80 league and cup games since then, scoring 18 goals, and providing 23 assists.
The Sun report states the 23-year-old is on Spurs’ summer shortlist, and manager Mauricio Pochettino could make a “formal offer” in the next few weeks.
However, one major stumbling block could be his massive £175million release clause, which suggests his club will drive a hard bargain for the player.
Another issue Spurs may face is that Philipp is happy plying his trade in the Bundesliga at the moment, believing the Premier League to have dropped behind Europe’s other major leagues in terms of technical quality.
The Freiburg ace is able to play on either wing, as a second striker or as an out-and-out centre-forward, and he has been capped six time by Germany Under-21s.